Thank you very much for your letter, resume and clips supporting your interest in a summer internship at The Virginian-Pilot. We reviewed nearly 300 excellent packages. Narrowing down the choices has not been an easy task. We are now ready to move to the next phase of the selection process with candidates we believe are better suited for the needs of our newsroom. Your application will not be among them.

Many factors were considered, the top one being that we will not have as many interns this summer as we have in previous years. Some applicants had excellent academic credentials but their clips did not demonstrate the breadth of experience or skill we expected. Some students had not done much work for their campus publications, a requirement for our program, or had not had any previous internships. A few applicants had already graduated. In order to be eligible for this year’s summer program, students must currently be enrolled in college. There are also applicants who misspelled the name of our newspaper or had other errors that stood out as red flags.

Because we received so many applications, I am not in a position to give individual critiques about your work. While you were not one of those selected as a finalist, we appreciate your interest in our newspaper and the time you invested in the application process. If you’re still in school for another year, I’d encourage you to keep up the good efforts, and perhaps we’ll see your application next time.